Antique Bench with pictures

[adowden]

A customer brought me two antique benches in poor condition. The joinery on them is amazing. I think they were built without glue so they could be disassembled if necessary. The bench is attached to the legs with mortise and tenon and the leg is attached to the base with mortise and tenon and pins. The bench is almost seven feet long. I really enjoyed seeing how these benches were designed! The main joint that failed was the tenon broke on the lower part of the leg that entered the base. Here are some pictures.

 

[sapwood]

That's a pretty amazing bench, Amy. The 7 ft span has undoubtedly supported a lot of people lbs. over the years. Guess they just don't make 'em like they use to :lol:

Roger

 

[sawman]

Amy, some of the older bench's used a method for attaching the seat to the legs using green lumber for the seat and allowing it to dry which made an extremely tight joint. A lot of the older peices had been designed to take apart for transporting them, using less room. Another method used was tusk tennon joinery, the tenon protruded beyod the side and wedged. The first knock down furniture, somewhat crude, but it worked. As to the finish, most had used linseed oil, not sure if was pure ( never really hardens) or boiled. I would like to see the finished product.

Later,
Albert, Al or whatever

 

[NZAPP1]

Amy that is incredible joinery on the bench :icon_thum I would also like to see the repaired and finished project

 

[adowden]

Well, I'm embarrassed to say, but the first picture is the finished bench. The person was trying to decide whether to get the bench fixed or throw it away. He didn't want to spend much money, so I used scrap wood I had around and made one leg and base. Then I used a glue injector to doctor up the existing joints. Total I spent 5 hrs. on it and charged him $50. I offered to make two new legs and bases on the other bench for $100 and have not heard back yet. Here is a close up picture of my pieces.

 

[sapwood]

Looks great! I thought that was the original.

Amy, that's my thought too. Mission accomplished :icon_thum

Roger

 

[NZAPP1]

Great work Amy :icon_thum the repair is not noticeable and the bench looks original :eusa_clap